Assassin’s Creed is one of the most popular franchises in the gaming world. With the first game, which came out in 2007, the franchise left its mark on an entire generation of gamers. Some of them grew up playing titles from the series. The series was seen evolving from an open-world action adventure one with stealth at its core to a semi-RPG with not as much focus on being discreet.
The most recent entry in the series Assassin’s Creed Mirage saw the series taking an about turn and returning to its winning formula. Set in the city of Baghdad, the game follows a familiar face from the previous game, Basim who is just starting as an assassin. Working in the dark to serve the light, Basim’s character arc develops steadily as the game progresses. When it comes to new titles, there cannot be a better time to pick them up than the holiday season.
Recently Ubisoft’s marketing strategy for their latest Assassin’s Creed title on Black Friday was a little smothering for players who were just trying to play their favored game.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s Black Friday Advertisement Pops up Mid-Game; Frowned Upon by Players
Black Friday, the Friday that falls right after Thanksgiving, is traditionally observed in the USA as a beacon of the festive season’s commencement. It marks significant deals on a lot of products including gaming consoles, accessories, and game titles. Games are usually at a significant discount during Black Friday. Studios usually invest in marketing campaigns for the same. But, in a usual incident, Ubisoft went a step further and not in a good way.
It so happened that Assassin’s Creed was also one of these games on a 20% discount on Black Friday. Brands and game studios usually put-up advertisements in game stores as part of the promotion strategy to facilitate higher sales. Ubisoft, on the other hand, went one step further and not in a good way. It so happened that when players who were playing Assassin’s Creed Titles apart from Mirage were metaphorically smothered with the latest title’s advertisements. This happened every time they tried to open the map in-game.
This naturally was not appreciated by fans who called it out as an annoying distraction amid a playthrough. Evidence this can be found in numerous places including Reddit and Twitter. For example, one post was shared by a Reddit user u/triddell24.
People were quick to call this a marketing attempt and perhaps a hail-Mary attempt from Ubisoft at boosting sales despite the game being the biggest current-gen success for the company. Shortly after, Ubisoft released an official statement on the matter. A spokesperson told IGN that this was certainly not the case.
These were the words of the spokesperson on the matter:
We have been made aware that some players encountered pop-up ads while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday…
Continuing, they said that:
This was the result of a technical error that we addressed as soon as we learned of the issue.
This has led many to question Ubisoft’s competence as a development studio.
While there were no official insights provided as to how all of this took place which inevitably raises some eyebrows on the matter from gamers, the official clarification should put an end to this matter.
Skeptics will most likely not be satisfied due to the lack of detail present in the spokesperson’s words. It is not immediately obvious how a technical error could lead to the placement of a pop-up ad at one of the most convenient places in-game. There have been numerous examples of in-game advertisements which have been well-executed.
These range from advertisements being put on display over billboards in a gameplay world or another addition that isn’t made very direct. Not to mention discreet in-game advertising which doesn’t make the experience feel cheap isn’t the worst idea in the world.
That being said such incidents from AAA studios like Ubisoft don’t go down well with consumers. It is evident from the past that such towering studious certainly do not have a resource crunch when it comes to the marketing of their titles. Technical Glitch or not gamers will probably not take kindly to such incidents, and they will reflect on the company’s brand image.
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